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Rep. Smith, state officials tour Cim-Tek Filtration plant in Kennett
KENNETT – U.S. Rep. Jason Smith and other Missouri state officials, including Secretary of State John Ashcroft and Attorney General Andrew Bailey, toured the recently-opened Cim-Tek Filtration plant in Kennett Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023.
Smith’s tour of the plant was one stop on his annual Ag Summit which reaches across the 28 counties of the 8th Congressional District.
“Here in Kennett, we’ve had a lot of struggles with businesses closing,” Smith said following a tour of the plant. “It’s always great when someone’s as excited as this company to be in Southeast Missouri, and they’re going to continue to grow. With 21 new jobs, and they want to go up to almost 80, we’ll take that.”
Cim-Tek began production at the former Parker-Hannifin facility in Kennett shortly before hosting a grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony on July 18, 2023. Founded and headquartered in Illinois, Cim-Tek’s operations in Bement, Il., Monticello, Il., and now Kennett, produce filters for petroleum, industrial, agricultural and biofuel markets.
Many farmers in Southeast Missouri were familiar with Cim-Tek’s products already, and many utilize Cim-Tek filters on tractors and other heavy machinery.
In Congress, Smith has made agriculture a point of emphasis in his agenda.
“Agriculture is the number one industry in our Congressional District,” Smith said. “If you look at the added value that will come from agriculture, that’s how I think we will grow our economy in rural America. That’s why this is one of the stops – it is one of the added values from agriculture.”
While Smith’s annual tour has grown to include hearing the needs of “small businesses, farmers and working class Americans,” his vision for bolstering the local, rural economy prioritizes not only agriculture, but also increasingly attracting ancillary services and corporations which encompass the larger ag economy.
“Whether it’s a soybean crushing facility, and we grow more soybeans in Southeast Missouri than anywhere else in the state, we should have the added value products after that incentivized here,” Smith explained. “It helps our economy.”
As Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, Smith recently unveiled the proposed American Families and Jobs Act – which comprises three separate bills, including the Tax Cuts for Working Families Act, the Small Business Jobs Act and the Build It in America Act.
If passed, the legislation aims to provide tax relief and increase tax incentives for small businesses, individuals and spur industrial development primarily in rural areas.
Cim-Tek opened in Kennett nearly a month to the day before news broke that the Tyson Foods plant less than an hour away in Dexter would be closing its doors in the coming months. The closure of the plant, which has employed locals across the area since the 1930s, will mean the loss of jobs for 683 people.
The Dexter plant is just one of five in small towns across Missouri, Arkansas, Indiana and Oklahoma. Smith’s stance on not only attracting, but also retaining industry in the region is clear.
“I think larger companies need to look at Americans as not being disposable,” Smith said of the closure. “I’m quite concerned that when I visited the Tyson plant a few years ago, they told me that they were expanding. I don’t understand why they would want to close here.”
Smith noted that, like many “added value” operations concerning agriculture, the Tyson Foods closure also means the loss of jobs and contracts with farm growers and feed distributers from the surrounding area.
He stated that it is imperative that if Tyson has no interest in retaining the operation, then the company should sell to another who would continue production, and if not, they should not enforce a noncompete clause.
Cim-Tek Filtration CEO Jeff Ayers and CFO Thomas Ayers agreed at the conclusion of the tour that it is “refreshing” to know there is backing from federal, state and local lawmakers for their success upon expanding to the area.
“It’s nice to know that we’re supported,” Jeff Ayers said. “That’s been our experience since we started coming down here. People are excited to have us and we’re excited to be here. This is a great area, the people are great and everyone’s wished us success. We’ve appreciated that more than I can describe.”
He explained that, despite supply chain issues from the outset of their move, Cim-Tek’s production plan remain on track. Ayers reported that interest in employment has been strong and the local workforce appears to be strong as the company gradually “builds out the business and moves filters.”